Replacement
by midnightmockingjay
Summary: Jon has to deal with Alanna when she begins acting openly hostile to his new chief mage, Numair Salmalin. What Jon wants to know is what the man could have done to earn the lady knight's anger. Oneshot.


King Jonathan IV of Conte'— Jon to his friends— sighed heavily, a certain conflict between two friends weighing heavily on his mind. His new chief mage, a man called Numair Salmalin, and his champion and dear friend, Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau, were not getting along very swimmingly. Jon could not see the reason that compelled Alanna to hate the man; as far as Jon knew, Numair had not insulted, ostracized, or harmed the Lioness in any way.

At the beginning, Alanna hadn't been uncharacteristically cold to the foreign man; she had welcomed him like all of their other friends had, and they had become friendly acquaintances. But as Numair rose in ranking, Alanna began to distance herself from him. And now, as Jon's chief mage and supposedly the most powerful mage in the realm, Alanna was as cold to him as she was to most conservatives, only without beating him with her sword to shut him up.

That night, though, she had acted completely out of line. Jon had arranged the seating so that the two people in question had seats next to each other; he had hoped that they could fix whatever was wrong. But Jon's hopes were smothered and the seating arrangements had the opposite effect.

Their voices had progressed to get louder and louder (especially Alanna's, for she still hadn't lost her fiery temper) and Jon was able to make out the end of their verbal duel.

"How do you know that you're the most powerful mage? I bet that there've been better."

"Yes, of course there have, Alanna, and I do not remember boasting to you about my stature as a mage, so you have no right to infer that I did!"

"But you must think that you are! How could you not?"

"Well, it is true that I have succeeded in performing every major spell I have ever tried, it doesn't mean that—"

"I bet you couldn't raise someone from the dead!"

"Why in the world would I do something that stupid?"

Alanna looked like she wanted to strangle him; she might have if Jon had not intervened. "Alanna, Numair, what is going on?"

"Nothing, your Majesty," his champion spat.

Jon quirked a dark eyebrow. "That certainly did not sound like nothing. Alanna, I'd like to have a talk with you about your behavior after dinner. You are to meet me in my office at the eighth bell. You are dismissed."

"_My_ behavior?" she screeched before getting a handle on herself. Still seething, she muttered, "Yes, your Majesty." She pushed herself out of her seat and stomped from the room, making such a large racket for just a small woman.

But that was Alanna, always acting and sounding much larger than she really was.

In the present, there was a knock on Jon's door. "Come in," he called, looking up from his desk.

The lady knight entered, still looking a bit angry. She plopped down into one of the chairs in front of Jon's desk and glared defiantly at him. "You wanted to see me?"

Jon sighed. "Alanna, I need to know why you have such a problem with Numair. Did he do something to you?"

"No," she responded. "He did nothing to me."

"Then why do you always act so nasty towards him?" the king questioned.

"It's none of your business," Alanna stressed, becoming less angry but still completely defiant.

Another sigh escaped Jon's lips; it seemed that Jon was always a bit exasperated with his champion's antics. The thing that was making Jon wonder was what could have made Alanna hate the man. He accepted women as warriors, never insulted her to her face, or bragged about his gift around her. Why wouldn't she tell Jon what was wrong?

Then the answer hit him. _"I bet you couldn't raise someone from the dead!"_

"You think that Numair is just a replacement for what Thom would have been," he accused her, "don't you?"

She stiffened but said nothing.

"Alanna, Numair just happened to come into our lives once Thom was gone. Yes, your brother was a brilliant mage, but Numair can help Tortall in ways that Thom would not have been able to."

"How do you know?" Alanna questioned, on the defensive. "He made one mistake, Jon. One mistake. He wasn't a bad mage."

"I'm not saying that," Jon insisted. "What I'm saying is that Thom was too proud, too wrapped up in his own projects in order to help Tortall properly. Numair is fully dedicated to helping us."

"He would have come around, given time," Alanna growled.

"Yes, given time," Jon agreed, "but time is something that we would not have been able to give him. What if Tyra decided to attack and Thom was too busy doing his own projects to organize the battle mages and assist us properly?"

Alanna said nothing; she knew when she was beaten. Jon was about to call the matter closed when she stared at him with her unnerving purple eyes and said, "I know Numair is better for the good of Tortall than Thom would have been," she stated, "but that doesn't mean that I'd rather have Numair here than Thom. You know how much I loved him, Jon."

"I know," he said. "Of course you would; he was your brother, after all. But I don't think Thom would have wanted you to scorn another powerful mage because of him. Alanna, can you at least try to get along with Numair, for the good of Tortall?"

Alanna sighed and got up. "Fine, Jon; I'll try to make nice with your new pet mage. May I be dismissed?"

Jon nodded. Alanna headed for the door, and was about to leave before he called, "Alanna?" She turned back to face him. He had lost the stern expression of a ruler and was wearing something softer, more compassionate. The expression made him look less worn, somehow. "Thank you."

She gave a curt nod and left, closing to door rather loudly behind her.

The next day, as Jon was walking to the dining hall for breakfast, Jon saw the two conversing outside of the hall. Their voices echoed slightly off the stone walls, and Jon heard them talking about the most mundane thing there was: the weather.

Jon smiled exasperatedly. _Well, it's a start._

**A/N: Hopefully this isn't too out of character. I tried to make everyone as close to the real characters as possible, but I don't think I did very well with this one. I was browsing through older fanfiction, and the idea for this came to me. Sorry ahead of time for any mistakes or grammar errors that I missed. I hope you like it! Please review; constructive criticism is appreciated. **


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